acquitted a year later. Returning to the Republic of Austria, von Myrdacz was appointed commander at the State Office of Styria. He was then posted to Graz, where his father had retired, to become a Stellvertretender Stadtkommandant (deputy militia commandant). Albania In 1920, von Myrdacz retired from service in Austria at the rank of brigadier-general and joined the newly formed Albanian army at the invitation of Ahmed Zog. Three years later he accepted a commission to become chief of staff. He joined a group of foreign nationals advising the Albanian government under Zog, including Leon Ghilardi from Dalmatia, and Lieutenant-Colonel Walter Francis Stirling and Major-General Sir Jocelyn Percy from Britain. Most of his duties, beyond training officers and small military formations in basic maneuvers, involved building military roads. In 1928, the new Fascist regime in Italy tried to increase influence and power within Albania, and General Alberto Pariani was sent as a military "advisor". The Albanian Prime Minister Ahmed Zog sidestepped the Italian military mission and appointed himself as Chief of General Staff. The following year, Zog made himself King of Albania, and von Myrdacz was immediately entrusted as chief of staff of the Royal Albanian Army. It suited Zog and the Albanians to have their army trained by a man who had fought the Italians. Italy invaded Albania on 7 April 1939, when von Myrdaczy and other high-ranking Albanian officers were not present. Zog escaped to Greece, leaving the country without defense, and Albania was occupied in three days without any resistance. When the Royal Albanian Army was dissolved, von Myrdacz lost his position but chose to stay in Tirana. With the capitulation of Italy on 8 September 1943, General Pervizi became Minister of Defense, with von Myrdacz serving as a liaison officer between the Albanian army and the German forces. General Pervizi did not allow the recruitment of Albanian soldiers for the SS, resulting in a breach with the Germans. In November 1944 the German forces withdrew from Albania. Von Myrdacz was advised to join the retreating forces in Austria, but again decided to remain in Tirana. Execution In September 1944, SS Standartenführer Josef Fitzthum (a fellow Austrian) directly appointed a three-man "control committee" for Tirana, including two obscure Albanians and von Myrdacz. The following month, the Germans evacuated Tirana. The Communist partisans of Enver Hoxha captured and tried von Myrdacz in the Special Court of Spring 1945